Over the times I write here, I consider this as some sort of personal archive, to keep track of what movies I've seen, or what books I've read or what music I think it's worth mentioning. But... I lost the interest, like everything else I do. There will be no more.
However, if you are a keen music listener and read Chinese, head over to my friends' new website Deep One Perfect Morning, to get your latest music news feed and other stuffs.
Goodbye.
To Rome With Love
Stars: Woody Allen, Penélope Cruz, Alec Baldwin, Ellen Page and Jesse Eisenberg
Year: 2012
IMDb
My Rating: 4/10
This is my own theory: I personally believe Woody Allen secretly made a contract with EU, to produce films based on popular cities in Europe to promote tourism. Due to his obligation, he has to make these films, good or bad. However, these films need to have public appeal, so there you have all the stars, in Barcelona, Paris, and Rome. Woody Allen himself doesn't really give a shit about his films. It's just for a laugh. Mr. Allen said so himself " I’ve never been satisfied or even pleased with a film that I’ve done." That's why he keeps on doing it...
In fact, I was in Rome few days ago. I know almost all those places in the film. There's comfort in knowing those places, but it doesn't necessarily make me like the film better. If there's another European city series... I am not going to see it.
Soundtracks for my journey
里斯本第一日
Moonrise Kingdom
Writers: Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola
Stars: Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, Frances McDormand, and Harvey Keitel
Music: Alexandre Desplat
Year: 2012
IMDB
My Rating: 8/10
Lovely. Few reasons: 1) awesome cast; 2) a sweet love story of between two 12-year-old quirky kids; 3) wes-anderson-style humor; 4) beautifully shot and edited. Wes Anderson is actually getting better and better. Go see it.
Solaris
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky,
Writers: Stanislaw Lem (novel)
Stars: Natalya Bondarchuk, Donatas Banionis and Jüri Järvet
Year: 1972 (Soviet Union)
IMDB
My Rating: 11/10
I mean seriously... this is one of the highest cinematic achievement. Definitely much better than any other sci-fi films I've ever seen. Odyssey 2000? Not even close. What makes human human? What makes human inhuman? What makes inhuman human? The thing about Tarkovsky film is that he doesn't just show you a film, he tries to tell the stories of/for all mankind. Perhaps not all mankind (obviously not everyone likes or gets his films), but man of his kind.
Midnight Jazz
Hello, sons and daughters, heroes and villains. Today is a good day, I've decided to share some music with you. Strictly, jazz music. I want to share it because, they have been good to me, and I want to be good to you too. But, you don't like jazz? Oh, it's okay, you don't have to listen to it, or you can give it a try and you might surprise yourself that you actually like it. As far as the selection goes, it's pretty mild and melancholy, just like whiskey on rocks. That's why I call it midnight jazz. Here, drink it.
The Last Days of Disco
Director/Writer: Whit Stillman
Stars: Chloë Sevigny, Kate Beckinsale and Chris Eigeman
Year: 1998
IMDB
My Rating: 7/10
I love disco.
Barcelona
Stars: Taylor Nichols, Chris Eigeman and Tushka Bergen
Year: 1994
IMDB
My Rating: 7/10
I really enjoy Whit Stillman's trilogy, and the way he approaches film-making. I think he really knows how to make intellectual and entertaining movies. I love how his characters talk and behave. There's something fascinating about modern aristocrats, because frankly there's no such things anymore. I mean there are, people who dress to kill, have money readily to spare on whatever things he/she fancy, talk intellectually interesting stuff, are my ideas of modern aristocrats. It is a way to live, vanity to keep sanity. Oh, I see I mention nothing about the movie...
Man always dies before he is fully born
The estranged man on the other hand tries to solve the issue another way, namely by conforming to his surroundings. He only feels secure and safe if he resembles his fellow man as much as possible. His highest purpose is to achieve approval of others, and his greatest fear is having to live without it. Being different, or belonging to a minority, is a danger that threatens his feeling of security. The consequence is a search for limitless conformism. The feeling of guilt with regard to sin that controlled people's lives some generations back, has now been replaced by a feeling of discomfort and insecurity with respect to being different.
(Erich Fromm)
(Erich Fromm)
Zabriskie Point
Director/Writer: Michelangelo Antonioni
Stars: Mark Frechette, Daria Halprin and Paul Fix
Music: Pink Flyod and Jerry Garcia
Year: 1970
IMDB
My Rating: 8/10
A movie about dreamers. I love how Antonioni uses the stark desert landscape, looks incredibly beautiful. Also, the explosions look wonderfully poetic. I would suggest that by blowing up luxury condo and material goods is a way of saying "fuck you" to the right, to the power, to the capitalism. One of Antonioni's most accessible movies, in my opinion. Oh, did I mention the music? killer soundtrack!
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Director: Robert Altman
Writers: Edmund Naughton (novel), Robert Altman, and Brian McKay(screenplay)
Stars: Warren Beatty, Julie Christie and Rene Auberjonois
Music: Leonard Cohen
Year: 1971
IMDB
My Rating: 7/10
Robert Altman's take on the wild west. Refreshing. Western is not really my type of genre, but this is a good one. Beautiful, great music, Julie Christie.
The Fire Within
Director: Louis Malle
Writer: Pierre Drieu La Rochelle (novel)
Stars: Maurice Ronet, Léna Skerla, Jeanne Moreau and Yvonne Clech
Music: Erik Satie
Year: 1963 (France)
IMDB
My Rating: 9.5/10
Based on the same novel as Oslo, August 31, I prefer this version. The impossibility to touch, to love, to understand the very life I'm living in. Suicide is not an option for me, but I understand his agony and devastation very well. We're all struggling to get through life, aren't we?
The Story of Jazz
Great Jones Street
I was reading William S. Burroughs before I got my hands on this book. The book by Burroughs was called Exterminator! For the most parts, I did enjoy his wild imaginations. As I read on, the lack of links between stories lost my interests in finishing the book. So there I was, walking aimlessly into a bookstore in Helsinki, and found this book. The back cover mentioned something about "fame, rock star, withdraw, privacy"...
At reading the first few chapters, I knew I'd love this book... as it begins with a rock star growing tired of fame and fortune, and decided to leave the band in the middle of busy touring. Somehow after the rock star began his retreat, DeLillo got Burroughrized, wild imaginations flying everywhere, weird conversations sprouting out of nowhere... it seems as everyone is on drugs, probably DeLillo himself as well. However, I did manage to finish the book. Yes, it's kind of like parody, to music industry, to our obsessions with drugs and fame, to all the noise everyone is making (and complaining) around us. Though it's written in 1973, it couldn't be any more accurate to describe our society today... particularly here, in the cybersphere.
I Trawl The Megahertz
'Your daddy loves you,' I said
'Your daddy loves you very much,
He doesn't want to live with us anymore.'
I am telling myself the story of my life
Lord you gave me nothing, then you took it all away
Repeat after me: happiness is only a habit
I'm listening to the face in the mirror
but I don't think I believe what she's telling me
And these are the footsteps you follow
The tracks of impossible love
They may help us make sense of who we are and where we came from
And, as a compassionate side effect
Teach us that nothing is ever lost
The Sacrifice (Offret)
Director/Writer: Andrei Tarkovsky
Stars: Erland Josephson, Susan Fleetwood and Allan Edwall
Cinematography: Sven Nykvist
Year: 1986 (Sweden)
IMDB
My Rating: 10/10
Like always, Andrei Tarkovsky's final film leaves me speechless... Erland Josephson, who passed away earlier this year, will always be remembered for his terrific performance in this one, as well as in other films by Ingmar Bergman.
Amores Perros
Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Writer: Guillermo Arriaga
Stars: Emilio Echevarría, Gael García Bernal and Goya Toledo
Year: 2000 (Mexico)
IMDB
My Rating: 8/10
Love's a bitch. Indeed. Unrequited love... especially.
Nick Drake: The Biography
After finished reading this book, I still don't know anything about Nick Drake. Nobody really knows him. However, the author try to put all the pieces of his life together, families, friends, producers, girlfriend, acquaintance, musicians, critics... everyone contributes their thoughts about Nick Drake. So, you get the vague picture of this really tall pale man, a man with very few words, a man who plays wonderful guitar, but also a man who distant himself from everyone else... that leads to his severe depression, which more or less kills him (technically, he died of anti-depressant overdose). His whole life is a mystery, even his death is a mystery (was overdose intentional, or unintentional?). But that's what I like most. I wouldn't want to read the biography of The Rolling Stones, or U2... there's no mysteries behind their success. With Nick Drake, there's a lot of mystery behind... why he hated live performance? why was he depressed? why wasn't he successful during his time? Let these mysteries remain in the clouds of unknown, and let his sweet melodies flow into our ears.
Home
"But it had come to that point where I was looking for something like a home-- I didn't have a home in the world, so I wanted a home in someone else, in a person."
I don't know when it all started... but I've developed this desperate longing for a home. I really don't have a home in this world, not here, not there, not anywhere. Now I'm living off my backpack, hopping from this bed to that bed, and it's gonna last for the next 3 months, which means I won't be able to settle down anytime soon. Being constantly on the move, how could I possibly find a home in a person? I'm lost. I wanna go home, but I don't know where it is yet. If the price is to give up my freedom, I'm willing to pay.
Note: David Byrne likes the topic of home. The movie "This Must Be The Place" is also about home (of course!). I feel like Senn Penn in the movie... traveling from places to places, except I'm not even on a mission for revenge. On the album which he collaborates with Brian Eno (a great album), there's a song called "Home" - Where home, comes to life from out of the blue...
I don't know when it all started... but I've developed this desperate longing for a home. I really don't have a home in this world, not here, not there, not anywhere. Now I'm living off my backpack, hopping from this bed to that bed, and it's gonna last for the next 3 months, which means I won't be able to settle down anytime soon. Being constantly on the move, how could I possibly find a home in a person? I'm lost. I wanna go home, but I don't know where it is yet. If the price is to give up my freedom, I'm willing to pay.
Note: David Byrne likes the topic of home. The movie "This Must Be The Place" is also about home (of course!). I feel like Senn Penn in the movie... traveling from places to places, except I'm not even on a mission for revenge. On the album which he collaborates with Brian Eno (a great album), there's a song called "Home" - Where home, comes to life from out of the blue...
Absolute Classics - V
Artist: Everything But The Girl
Album: Amplified Heart
Label: Blanco y Negro Records
Release Date: 1994
Genre: Pop
原本以為會很有耐心地寫下去的，不過，我就是一個沒有耐心的人。上一次寫已經是去年十一月的事了。再來一發流行樂。原因？因為最近很常聽。
流行樂的定義是甚麼？可以說是見仁見智。對我來說，聽起來舒服地沒有壓力的就是流行樂。市面上有很多流行樂的專輯，但是一張可以讓人一聽再聽的並不多。。。（我已經開始語無倫次了）。好吧，這樣介紹好了，如果你需要一張悅耳的流行專輯，選這張吧！經典唷～
Erik de Vahl
Back to the album, the label describes "Erik de Vahl's music is a true time document of the 21st century. Classy songwriting mixed with funky/moody electronics. A latter-day Durutti Column, always snoopy and very proud." For me, it's very meditative and enjoyable to listen to. When I leave Sweden, if I listen to this album again, I will miss the days listening to his music and immersing myself in the Swedish landscape.
Sharing Different Heartbeats...
Yeah, y'know, I was there last night. This song (by The Knife) brings me sad memories... so Jose's version is just perfect.
Dead Poets Society
Writer: Tom Schulman
Stars: Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard and Ethan Hawke
Year:1989
IMDB
My Rating: 8/10
You can say this is a typical school drama, but I like it cuz it's got good some context. Teenage boys, poems, dreams and hopes, carpe diem... Another reason I like it is because the context is quite personal too. I went to private boys school, and have a strict family, I know exactly what Neil went through, but I didn't do anything he does... I didn't pursue my dreams, didn't live to seize the day, didn't make my life extraordinary. Now, the light has faded away. Life tastes tasteless.This tedium I've created, I hate it but have to live with it. God knows, someday someone might light the candle for me.
Swingin' Party
Jessica Jalbert - Swingin' Party Kindness - Swingin' Party
這首歌, 最近突然很受歡迎... 不過翻唱都是冷冷的電子版, 這就是我們這個年代的聲音?
Metropolitan
Stars: Carolyn Farina, Edward Clements and Chris Eigeman
Year: 1990
IMDB
My Rating: 9/10
It's getting serious, I'm getting incapable of seeing movies. With shit movies, I get bored after 1 or 2 minutes. But, Metropolitan is an exception, because of its talkative nature and extravagant style. There is almost too much conversation in this film, but they are all interesting ones. Nothing bores me more than uninteresting conversations.
Though the conversations are amusing, the story itself isn't. I don't really care though. The movie itself is interesting enough for me to ignore the storyline.
Stalker
Writers: Arkadiy Strugatskiy & Boris Strugatskiy (novel and screenplay)
Stars: Alisa Freyndlikh, Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy and Anatoliy Solonitsyn
Year: 1979 (Soviet Union)
IMDB
My Rating: 10/10
Faith, hope, belief, religion, truth, meaning of life...
My top three directors of all time: Bergman, Tarkovsky, Fellini.
"A man writes because he is tormented, because he doubts. He needs to constantly prove to himself and the others that he's worth something. And if I know for sure that I'm a genius? Why write then? What the hell for?"
I Am Curious - Yellow
Stars: Lena Nyman, Vilgot Sjöman, Börje Ahlstedt and Martin Luther King
Year: 1967 (Sweden)
IMDB
My Rating: 7/10
I wasn't sure whether I was watching a documentary or a movie. It's bit of both I think, which makes it all the more interesting. That's why even it's not a great film, I still give it credits for trying something different. It's a documentary about social movement and Swedish society at the time, and a film about a girl's life with a mix of reality and fiction.
About social issues, Is a social class system good for our society? Is income a good way to separate social class? How come women still don't have equal job opportunities as men? Can we really defend ourselves with non-violence? Why are these questions still fucking relevant today? Because, we haven't advanced that much I guess. Not even in the Swedish society, though they are already way ahead than most countries, with general gender equality sense and flat social structure, things are still not perfect, male violence just to name one thing.
Ok, I'm not Swedish, and I don't mean to criticize. Quite in contrary, I love living in Sweden. It's just that something don't ever change...
Olso, August 31
Writers: Pierre Drieu La Rochelle (novel), Joachim Trier, and Eskil Vogt
Stars: Anders Danielsen Lie, Hans Olav Brenner and Ingrid Olava
Year: 2011 (Norway)
IMDB
My Rating: 8/10
I love Reprise. That's why I was so eager to see this when I found out that Joachim Trier had a new film coming out, but it seems like I never had the luck to see his films in cinema. So, as soon as the DVD came out, I bought it on Amazon.
I love the minimalism and neo-existentialism in this film. For me, it doesn't even feel like I'm watching a film, I feel like I'm watching a "based-on-true-story" movie about me, except that the writers had to skew the facts a little as if to avoid being too personal. What do I get out of this film? Nothing, but it's good to be reminded that people like me still exist somewhere in the trap they made for themselves.
ATP Curated by Jeff Mangum Day 2
經過第一天瘋狂的現場，隔天快中午起床，全身還是充滿疲累。也偷偷慶幸還好第二天的行程沒有那麼緊湊，至少沒有太多我們必追的團。重點大概是在 Central Stage 的前三個團，不過還好 Boredoms 有兩場表演，我們決定放到最後一天看。所以還有時間跑出會場，去 Minehead 的海灘散散步，還有碰到一些奇遇（會在後面的番外篇介紹）。第二天的行程：
A Hawk and A Hacksaw > The Apples In Stereo > Joanna Newsom > Low > Scratch Acid
Pulp
Not sure if this is a good start for Bukowski, but I enjoyed this book immensely. The whole book smells of booze and gunfire. I have not read a book as reckless and funny as this. I would love to read more of his books, only if they are as good as this.
Summer With Monika
Writer: Per Anders Fogelström
Stars: Harriet Andersson, Lars Ekborg and Dagmar Ebbesen
Year: 1953 (Sweden)
IMDB
My Rating: 8/10
Bergman's early work, and it showcases Harriet Andersson, an innocent and erotic beauty.
I'm going to Stockholm next week for the first time, hoping to see one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and to see the beautiful archipelago featured in this film.
In Praise of Older Women
I find my old selves several times in this book, love, sex, happiness... none of them really last...
ATP Curated by Jeff Mangum Day 1
在做了七個多小時的巴士 (加上中途轉車的時間)，從倫敦做到 Butlins Minehead 的現場已經下午兩點多了。這樣代表我們早上七點就要趕去車站坐車！因為手機上時差沒有調過來，所以早上五點就起床了。加上前一天晚上跟火山還有正妹友人一起出去喝酒，所以根本就沒甚麼睡到。不過還好，我們充分的利用了這七個多小時的車程充電（整個就是睡死了），因為第一天的節目就超級刺激，從下午看到凌晨！以下是我們的行程：
Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise > 晚餐 > Jeff Mangum > Young Marble Giants > The Raincoats > The Music Tapes > Thurston Moore > Mike Watt & George Hurley > The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
"Ex-Factor"
QUADRON - "EX-FACTOR" from Coco + Robin = Quadron on Vimeo.
This is a crazy cover... of Miss Lauryn Hill. She has to be pleased to see this.
Weekend
Director/Writer: Andrew Haigh
Stars: Tom Cullen, Chris New and Laura Freeman
Year: 2011 (UK)
IMDB
My Rating: 7.5/10
A love story of the stubborn cynic vs. the idealistic romantic. In my past love affairs, I think I played both roles, or just a cynical romantic, but how is that possible?
Someone wrote "Nothing here feels forced, there is a naturalness about the acting and dialogue, real chemistry between the two leads and a sense of lightness about the filmmaking that yet never feels trivial." And I agree. It's just a very nice indie gay film.
Andrei Rublev
Writers: Andrey Tarkovskiy, Andrey Konchalovskiy
Stars: Anatoliy Solonitsyn, Ivan Lapikov and Nikolay Grinko
Year: 1966 (Soviet Union)
IMDB
My Rating: 10/10
No words could describe the emotions I have been going through while watching this...
PressPausePlay
PressPausePlay from House of Radon on Vimeo.
A very good attempt to depict our digital/creative world (music, book, films, design). There are two sides of argument, "technology is great, allows more people to access, and talents have platforms to reach their audience" and "cheap technology leads to democratized culture, art becomes everyone's playground, eventually a mess." I agree with the second one... I don't care where technology can take us to, and I don't care if there's any great new music, I just wanna go on Internet exile for like 5 years, and see if I miss out anything. Probably not.
這幾首歌重複播放中．．．
Archers of Loaf - "Fabricoh"from Lance Bangs on Vimeo
Rocking Out! Rocking Out! 喜歡 The Replacements 的人可以試試他們~
Rhye - 3 Days
我好期待他們的新專輯, 會不會像EP依樣每一首都好聽?
The Apples in Stereo - 7 Stars
真是靠背的朗朗上口~
30 Century Man
“Even David Bowie - the executive producer of this exceptionally smart documentary - admits it: Scott Walker is the original avant-garde crooner.” The Rolling Stone
“A fascinating meditation on the nexus of art and celebrity with a deeply charismatic figure at its center…one of the most remarkable music documentaries in ages. Not to be missed.” Box Office Magazine
I really like it, because I really like his music, and his personal philosophy, and his philosophy about music. If you haven't heard of him, this film can be a good introduction. But it's really rewarding to watch this documentary after spending some time with his music. It's also very interesting that he never listen to his records once it's finished (that's why he never tour). I remember all the master filmmakers are like that too.
American Psycho
Writers: Bret Easton Ellis (novel), Mary Harron, Guinevere Turner (screenplay)
Stars: Christian Bale, Chloë Sevigny, Justin Theroux, Reese Witherspoon, Jared Leto and Willem Dafoe
Original Music: John Cale
Year: 2000
IMDB
My Rating: 8/10
Forget about thriller, this movie is a fucking comedy.
I don't want to reduce its brilliance by summarizing it. There are a lot of social issue and personal issue discussed while not explicitly pointed out. It's open to your interpretation, or just for your entertainment. It was really entertaining whenever he talks about music, or listening to music in his headphone when other people are trying to talk to him. It's very destructive, very post-modern.
In anticipation of ATP...
I just wanna post some songs with the lyrics I like. This weekend is going to be huge!
London, Minehead, Mr Mangum, Mr Merritt, awesome music, here I come~
The Art of Flight
Sports are inventions with a set of certain rules to exhibit physical human motions. It kind of reduce human capability purely to its physical form, with one simple goal. All the other daily concerns are blocked out. Your whole body focuses on acting for this one thing, possibly a physical act with immense complexity. All the efforts you put into achieving it, is for this one act to happen. Isn't that a beautiful way to live? It'd be a much easier life.
However, no one can live like that, not even sportsmen. Sports in modern society are merely entertainment. And when the sport is presented like this one here, it's a really nice threat. Watch only in HD, would you appreciate the beauty of physical motion and white landscapes.
Open
Somehow, I feel this video is very appropriate for the song.
Your body is my temporary home, I don't mean to stay long.
So stay open, and let me in, by the time you wake up, I will be gone.
who are Rhye?
The Artist
Stars: Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo and John Goodman
Year: 2011 (France)
IMDB
My Rating: 8/10
Very nice.
A Visit From the Goon Squad
I picked up the book in the bookstore, because I noticed few words in the back cover that quickly aroused my curiosity, like "punk rocker", "self-destruction", "funny" and so on. As I have just finished reading it, I sort of like it, a very interesting structure and concept for novel. But that's it, the story floats on daily life's surface, past, present, future (prediction), all broken down to pieces and patched together as a novel called "a visit from the goon squad".
In one page, Egan wrote: "The problem was precision, perfection; the problem was digitization, which sucked the life out of everything that got smeared through its microscopic mesh. Film, photography, music: dead. An aesthetic holocaust!" I like the term she coined, aesthetic holocaust, it could be applied to so many other cultural/art things, books for example.
逛逛唱片行
就像成名在望裡面，凱特哈德森說的，唱片行就像你的老朋友，當你寂寞的時候就可以去找找他。儘管，這是我第一次踏進哥德堡的唱片行，可是感覺卻好像回到了一個我很熟悉的環境。來到瑞典已經一個多月了，我發覺我還是在不斷地在適應這裡的環境。或許是因為我還不懂瑞典文吧，也不是很懂真正的瑞典文化，所以儘管小心翼翼，但對於那些對我來說還是未知的文化差異，有時候還是會碰壁。但在唱片行，完全沒有這樣的問題。我愛逛多久就逛多久，我想要慢慢把所有唱片都翻過一遍，也沒人會管我。我想說的重點就是音樂是一項極私人且universal的一件事。那天我逛了哥德堡的 Stigbergstorget區，那邊應該算是音樂重地吧，因為我要介紹的兩家唱片行都在那一區附近。走路路程十五分鐘內能找的到不少唱片行，樂器行，音響店，感覺還蠻集中的，只差表演的場所不知道有沒有在附近（因為沒找到特別想看的演唱會，索性就沒去了）。
Dogville
Stars: Nicole Kidman, Paul Bettany, Chloë Sevigny and Lauren Bacall
Year: 2003 (Denmark)
IMDB
My Rating: 8.5/10
I wouldn't call this film original. If there's anything different about this film, it is the striped-down stage used entirely throughout the film. But then von Trier didn't invent that, he's just got the balls to do it. What's really fascinating about this film is the complex human drama, which is charged with powerful emotions and philosophical re-examinations of human being. The plot isn't new either, but is carefully put together and well paced. The superb cast are the souls of this film, without them I don't think audiences would be able to sit through this three hour film.
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